


The Last Question

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Category: DCU Animated
Genre: Aging, Multi, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-06-06
Updated: 2007-06-06
Packaged: 2017-12-08 03:28:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/756494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vic has one last question, but the answer may have to wait</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Last Question

**Author's Note:**

> Ty Herndon's "Man Holding on to a Woman Letting Go" inspired this

He still thinks she is beautiful. He could still tell anyone who cared to know when he first became aware of her, when he first spoke to her, and what she was wearing.

Down to her deodorant. She rolled her eyes when he told her.

His hand rests lightly on hers. She lost the ability to draw back her crossbow bolts some ten years before, the arthritis too crippling to let her keep trying.

It had been the first moment he realized just how quickly time had passed.

The feel of her wrinkles, the dark spots of age, all of it is as much a part of her to him as the way she curses softly in Italian or the certain proportions of herbs she would add to her special sauce for the lasagna he loved.

He knows he has to accept this. He knows it is inevitable, that this is a part of the Biggest Conspiracy of all…the one that holds answers he isn't sure he can fathom. The one called Life.

He wants to hold it at bay, the way they held Cadmus off so long ago. He wants to find a victory in this for them both.

Most of all, he wants one last answer.

What does he do, when the last breath comes from her? 

They approach him quietly, just as withered in age as she is, as he himself has become.

Always there, the four of them, one family against the tides.

He looks from one to the other, then back at the woman who gave him love outside the thrill of solving the puzzle.

"It won't be much longer," he manages to say, his tone dry and papery.

"Not for any of us," the once strong archer says softly.

"What will I…"

The other woman of their family rests her hand on his shoulder, quieting him.

"We remember, we tell our children, and then we let our legacies speak for us."

It's not the answer he wants…but it will hold him over until he finds out the final answer.


End file.
